Banks-Vernonia and beyond: Our final shakedown ride
So with our big Pacific Coast tour just around the corner (2 weeks!!) We wanted to get in one more “shakedown” ride to give us chance to test out our gear and figure out if we want more (or less) for our trip. With Oregon’s oldest rail trail, the Banks Vernonia, located just outside of Portland, we figured it would be the perfect test ride.
Day: 1
July 3, 2021
Distance: 40.3 miles (40.3 total)
Hillsboro to Vernonia
Based on the locations of campgrounds, and let’s be honest, the giant hill west of Portland, we decided rather than leave from our current home in SE Portland, we would take the 45 min drive** over to Hillsboro and start from there. We piece-mealed a route together to get us to the rail trail and we were off.
**you can totally just ride the Max over to Hillsboro if you are on regular bikes, and we have even done it before, but alas one of the downsides of our tandem is the inability to take public transportation shortcuts.
Overall, it was a nice ride, the morning started off cool enough (luckily last week’s record breaking heat dome seems to have mostly dissipated, although by the afternoon that 90 degree weather was no longer pleasant). We rode through the North Plains area, and saw several other road cyclists out. We passed by lots of farms including blueberry fields ready for picking (although we opted not to stop at the ‘u-pick’ fields).
We rolled up to the Banks Trailhead at around 10:30, and chatted with another couple riding a tandem before heading through the tree tunnel that surrounded the trail. After a few more miles of riding we stopped at some shady picnic tables at a trailhead for our new favorite lunch, bean burritos. (Thanks Ryan Vanduzer for the suggestion!)
Today’s trail riding was almost all uphill (until the like last 10ish miles) so it was a bit of a struggle, but at least our way back will be pretty fast?
We rolled into the primitive camp sites at Lake Vernonia around 3, so we had lots of time to do laundry, stretch, and reacquaint ourselves with camp chores. We even had a curious deer wonder through the campsite to see what we were up to…. Hopefully there aren’t any other critters that come by for a visit tonight!
Selfie on the Banks Vernonia 
Lake Vernonia 
Angela prepping the beds 
Deer came through our camp area 
Inside an abandoned mill fuel house at Vernonia Lake 
Sunset on the lake
Day: 2
July 4, 2021
Distance: 30.8 miles (71.1 total)
Vernonia to Stub Stewart State Park plus Detours
We woke up to a symphony of birds at around 5 am, then proceeded to ignore them for two hours before actually getting up around 7 am. We had a lazy morning, enjoyed some oatmeal and coffee before packing up.
To up our miles for our second day of riding we decided to ride up highway 47 a little ways before turning around to head back to Stub Stewart State Park along the rail trail. Coincidentally that highway is one of the suggested bike routes to the coast. In case you were wondering, we turned around at mile marker 54 for no particular reason other than why not.
The highway was surprisingly shady, and while there weren’t great break spots, we did meet a lot of encouraging folks. We stopped for 2nd breakfast at the wide shoulder along the turnoff to the Scappoose Vernonia Hwy, and as one car pulled up to the intersection, the passenger leaned out the window and shouted several words of encouragement and other nice things. Some older road cyclists also stopped to chat and as we told them about our upcoming trip they said we were “living their dream”. They also said we would definitely make it all the way to San Diego! Needless to say it was an encouraging morning.
As we passed back into town through Vernonia we decided we would treat ourselves to some pastries. Sadly the only coffee shop was closed, so we settled for banana bread cake from the Mini Mart. It was about this time I decided we hadn’t seen enough of Vernonia, so instead of carrying on down the trail we went on an adventure to find my gloves I had *strategically* set on the bike at our last bathroom break so that they would fly off randomly making for a more fun scavenger hunt.
Day two on the trail was pretty chill since we knew everything ahead of us. We prepped for the dreaded hills mentally, and even snagged a break at “our bench” at the top of the hill that we had scouted out the previous day.
Stub Stewart State Park is a really nice campground. (Minus the GIANT 1/4 mile hill to the welcome center). We were able to set up camp, shower, etc etc relatively quickly and easily.**
2nd breakfast break 
Turnaround milemarker 
Historic Vernonia 
Stub Stewart State park
**about two hours after writing my blog for the day (so like 8 ish) the park rangers came through to check on campers and make sure everyone paid, the usual. Apparently the campsite we had chosen was supposed to be closed due to a dead tree creaking ominously above it- we had even commented on the creeking previously and Andrew had jokingly scolded “don’t fall on our tent tree!” So not wanting to die, we had to grab all our stuff and awkwardly carry the tent to another site – you know, cause we weren’t about to break it all down. Luckily it wasn’t too difficult, and we were just killing time anyways so I guess that’s one way to do that, even if I was a little grumpy about the inconvenience.
Day: 3
July 5, 2021
Distance: 40.4 miles (111.5 total)
Stub Stewart State Park to Hillsboro
All day two we had been looking forward to the downhill that was the southern part of the rail trail. Was it worth the wait? Yes. Was it over way too fast? Yes. We did manage to stretch it out a little by checking out the the trestle bridge from below and stopping to pick and enjoy a few cherries along the trail. But we were off the rail trail and onto streets pretty early on.
Instead of heading straight to Hillsboro from Banks like we did on Day 1, today we decided we would follow the Oregon Scenic Bikeway which meanders it’s way around adding about 15 extra miles. The scenery, which was mostly a variety of farmlands, was gorgeous, but it was mostly in the sun with limited shelter, so the heat was definitely affecting us towards the end of the ride. We had to stop in a couple shady places to cool off (pun intended).
But we did it! Shakedown ride complete. A couple lessons learned (don’t leave gloves sitting on bike unless you attach them), a few things added to our “to bring” list (icy hot and our lock!) and all there is to do now is some serious laundry and then wait for our tour to start! We’re stoked!
View of the trestle bridge on the Banks Vernonia Trail from below 
So many cherries ripe for picking along the trail, so of course we sampled a few 
We followed the Oregon Scenic Bikeway signs to make our way back to the car 
When on tour you have to stop at the fruit stands right? We enjoyed a nice break with fresh marionberries 
Found some majestic sequoias outside Forest Grove to break for lunch under 
Sunny day meant great views of the mountains. Mt Hood seen here, but we also saw Mt St Helens and Mt Adams.
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